Usually it is Richard who is up late doing something-er-other on the computer. But tonight the late night Isaiah-feeding has fallen to me. Normally, I would watch TV - but there is nothing on (not even something on the TiVo of interest). Or I would read a book - but I just finished my book.
Speaking of my book (my, what a tidy transition...), it was great. I highly recommend it. It is called "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith. I borrowed it from my Mom. I was totally caught up in it from the very first page. The first sentence really. "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink." I bet you want to know what comes next, don't you? Trust me, you do.
I think maybe blogs are all about vanity. Or at least mine is. Suddenly I am of the opinion that what book I just read, or what cute thing my kids just did, or how my family spent their Saturday, is of interest to the masses. I claim that I started this blog as an easier way to get photos to my Mom - but now I am writing posts with no photos. So that blows that claim. Really I think the truth is that it's nice to write in a journal. I never thought I would admit that, since I have always been very anti-journal writing. It always seemed pointless since I was pretty sure that no one would ever be interested enough in my boring life to want to read my journal. So - that's why I think it's about vanity. Now I think people should want to read about my boring life. - What a circle I have just written.
Obviously my brain is in an odd late-night kind of mode. I think I'll probably be embarassed tomorrow that I have posted this tonight.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Gasp!
I have just realized that all my photos from my trip to Texas were transfered to my parent's computer and removed from my memory card! Gasp! What a dirty rotten trick for a computer to play! At home my computer nicely COPIES the photos but never never actually removes them from my memory card until I tell it to (or rather, Richard tells it to).
So you'll have to settle for my word that our trip was fabulous. My parents did not take any time off work while we were there, so the kids and I were on our own during the day. That made things nice and calm. Then in the evenings I got to make dinner for my parents, which was a nice sort of switch-er-oo from the norm of Mom slaving all day in the kitchen on the holidays. We went and had lunch with Mom several times at or near her work. We went to a "spray park" that was NOT a hit with my kids who are not big fans of water spraying in their faces. My Dad and I saw Harry Potter. Naomi and "Grandma" had tea parties. Asher found every possible breakable item in the house and made sure it was moved up 5 feet - but, thankfully, never actually broke anything (other than a small amount of mostly repairable damage to a small tea table which he flipped over and attempted to use as a skateboard). Isaiah performed his "cute" duties very well for all who wanted a gander. Overall, it was a great trip that actually did not leave us with that exhausted, I-want-my-own-stuff-and-routine-back type of feeling that a long vacation usually brings (until the 2 days in the car on the way home). The trip home was, thankfully, far less eventful than the trip there. Nothing major to speak of.
So, now we are home and life is carrying on. The kids were so glad to see their own toys that we haven't even left the house for the past 3 days.
Oh - and I never thought I would say this - but bless the inventor of Disney Princess figurines. I gave Naomi a set of 4 or 5 inch high molded-plastic Princesses for car entertainment. She didn't use them much in the car, but at home she will actually go to her room BY HERSELF and play BY HERSELF for an hour or so. Bless those Princesses and Walt Disney.
So you'll have to settle for my word that our trip was fabulous. My parents did not take any time off work while we were there, so the kids and I were on our own during the day. That made things nice and calm. Then in the evenings I got to make dinner for my parents, which was a nice sort of switch-er-oo from the norm of Mom slaving all day in the kitchen on the holidays. We went and had lunch with Mom several times at or near her work. We went to a "spray park" that was NOT a hit with my kids who are not big fans of water spraying in their faces. My Dad and I saw Harry Potter. Naomi and "Grandma" had tea parties. Asher found every possible breakable item in the house and made sure it was moved up 5 feet - but, thankfully, never actually broke anything (other than a small amount of mostly repairable damage to a small tea table which he flipped over and attempted to use as a skateboard). Isaiah performed his "cute" duties very well for all who wanted a gander. Overall, it was a great trip that actually did not leave us with that exhausted, I-want-my-own-stuff-and-routine-back type of feeling that a long vacation usually brings (until the 2 days in the car on the way home). The trip home was, thankfully, far less eventful than the trip there. Nothing major to speak of.
So, now we are home and life is carrying on. The kids were so glad to see their own toys that we haven't even left the house for the past 3 days.
Oh - and I never thought I would say this - but bless the inventor of Disney Princess figurines. I gave Naomi a set of 4 or 5 inch high molded-plastic Princesses for car entertainment. She didn't use them much in the car, but at home she will actually go to her room BY HERSELF and play BY HERSELF for an hour or so. Bless those Princesses and Walt Disney.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Throwing the baby out with the dishwater
Isaiah had a bad case of cradle cap. So we rubbed vaseline into his hair and then shampooed it out, as recommended in "What to Expect the First Year". It did take care of the cradle cap pretty well, but then his hair was all greasy from the vaseline. We tried shampoo, Clarifying shampoo, more shampoo, but it was still greasy. So what cuts grease, we thought? Well, everybody knows that Dawn cuts the grease! So that's what we tried.
But even after that it was still pretty greasy. I guess time is what it needs now.
But even after that it was still pretty greasy. I guess time is what it needs now.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
2 crazy ladies and 5 kids
Editors' Note: I don't have time to fight blogger over where to put these photos, so they're first. Sorry.
Asher thought watching the cars and trucks zoom past us was the greatest entertainment ever.
Here are Naomi and Alice giving us the "thumbs up". What great little troopers they were.
The children and I have arrived in Texas for our 2 week visit with my parents. The trip here is worth blogging about. The plan was for me, my 3 kids, my friend Jenny, and her 2 kids to all drive together in our minivan. We would do the drive over 2 days, staying the night in Louisville, KY with Jenny's brother. The first day was a "9 hour drive" according to AAA. The second day was a "12 hour drive" according to AAA. So, at 4:40am on Monday the 7 of us set off. The day went really well. Jenny's kids are Alice, age 4 and Laura, age 9 months. Naomi, Alice and Asher were squeezed into the back seat, Isaiah and Asher claimed the Captains chairs, and of course Jenny and were up front, alternating driving. Naomi and Alice played together very nicely. They colored, played with dolls, and giggled plenty. They even did a little sleeping. Asher hardly slept at all, which left him in a total trance the rest of the time. He just sat there like he was frozen for the majority of the time. Jenny and I were very OK with that. Isaiah and Laura did a great job too. The "9 hour drive" took us about 12 hours. We decided this was unacceptable and planned for how to be even faster the next day (because a 16 hour second-day didn't sound like fun). So on Day 2 we headed out about the same time but we had more food with us in the car and a better plan for dealing with kids to keep us moving toward our destination. And, I admit, we planned to speed a little bit more than on Day 1. By 9 am-ish we went through Memphis. Just outside of Memphis is where the whole plan really went south.
We blew a tire. And I mean blew. Luckily, we were able to safely get over to the side of the road and even onto some grass further away from the road. We took some deep breaths, recovered from the drama of the moment, said a silent prayer of thanks for our safety, and called AAA. We made sure to mention several times that we had 5 kids under 5 in the car with us. They said they hoped to have someone there in less than 30 minutes. But the problem was we weren't sure exactly where we were. No mile marker was in sight and I had no idea what the last exit we passed was. Jenny tried walking up the road just a little to see if she could find a mile marker, but she could only go so far before the nice grassy patch disappeared and she didnt dare walk right along the road. AAA was having trouble finding us, so finally I got out and attempted to flag someone down to tell us where we were. Jenny claims that I showed a little leg to finally get someone to stop (which is true since I was wearing shorts). A trucker stopped, I gave him my phone number so that he could call when he passed the next mile marker and tell us where we were (incidentally, he and I have a date later this week...). Anyway, long story a little shorter, 2 1/2 hours later our tire was changed to the spare. Another hour or so and $85 and we had a new tire and were on the road again. We got "home" to our parents' houses at about 10:30pm. That was one LOOOOOONG day. But we were really very blessed in many ways. But I want you to just stop and think about 5 little kids, in a van that is not moving, for 3 hours. It was chaos. Here are some pics to prove it.
Asher thought watching the cars and trucks zoom past us was the greatest entertainment ever.
Here are Naomi and Alice giving us the "thumbs up". What great little troopers they were. 
The children and I have arrived in Texas for our 2 week visit with my parents. The trip here is worth blogging about. The plan was for me, my 3 kids, my friend Jenny, and her 2 kids to all drive together in our minivan. We would do the drive over 2 days, staying the night in Louisville, KY with Jenny's brother. The first day was a "9 hour drive" according to AAA. The second day was a "12 hour drive" according to AAA. So, at 4:40am on Monday the 7 of us set off. The day went really well. Jenny's kids are Alice, age 4 and Laura, age 9 months. Naomi, Alice and Asher were squeezed into the back seat, Isaiah and Asher claimed the Captains chairs, and of course Jenny and were up front, alternating driving. Naomi and Alice played together very nicely. They colored, played with dolls, and giggled plenty. They even did a little sleeping. Asher hardly slept at all, which left him in a total trance the rest of the time. He just sat there like he was frozen for the majority of the time. Jenny and I were very OK with that. Isaiah and Laura did a great job too. The "9 hour drive" took us about 12 hours. We decided this was unacceptable and planned for how to be even faster the next day (because a 16 hour second-day didn't sound like fun). So on Day 2 we headed out about the same time but we had more food with us in the car and a better plan for dealing with kids to keep us moving toward our destination. And, I admit, we planned to speed a little bit more than on Day 1. By 9 am-ish we went through Memphis. Just outside of Memphis is where the whole plan really went south.
We blew a tire. And I mean blew. Luckily, we were able to safely get over to the side of the road and even onto some grass further away from the road. We took some deep breaths, recovered from the drama of the moment, said a silent prayer of thanks for our safety, and called AAA. We made sure to mention several times that we had 5 kids under 5 in the car with us. They said they hoped to have someone there in less than 30 minutes. But the problem was we weren't sure exactly where we were. No mile marker was in sight and I had no idea what the last exit we passed was. Jenny tried walking up the road just a little to see if she could find a mile marker, but she could only go so far before the nice grassy patch disappeared and she didnt dare walk right along the road. AAA was having trouble finding us, so finally I got out and attempted to flag someone down to tell us where we were. Jenny claims that I showed a little leg to finally get someone to stop (which is true since I was wearing shorts). A trucker stopped, I gave him my phone number so that he could call when he passed the next mile marker and tell us where we were (incidentally, he and I have a date later this week...). Anyway, long story a little shorter, 2 1/2 hours later our tire was changed to the spare. Another hour or so and $85 and we had a new tire and were on the road again. We got "home" to our parents' houses at about 10:30pm. That was one LOOOOOONG day. But we were really very blessed in many ways. But I want you to just stop and think about 5 little kids, in a van that is not moving, for 3 hours. It was chaos. Here are some pics to prove it.
Who stole the hot sauce?
I was leaving Taco Bell and I noticed something I must've seen a million times (at different places - I don't eat Taco Bell that often) but never noticed - a color-coded ruler next to the door, for a person's height I presume. "What's that for?", I wondered. Immediately a scene popped into my head:
- Taco Bell Employee
- "He just walked in, filled his hands with hot sauce, and left."
- Police Officer
- "How tall was he?"
- Taco Bell Employee
- "I don't know. He was huge."
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Just some cuteness
The kids and I are going to visit my parents in Texas on Monday. So I've been snapping pictures of the kids at random moments for the last few days to put onto our digital photo frame. You can put the frame on "slide show" mode and it will scroll through photos every few seconds. That way Richard can see the kids' cute faces, even when they're gone. Anyway, the point is, there are a few that are just too cute to not share. So here are my favorites.
Do my kids have amazing eyes, or what? MAN they're cute.Friday, July 6, 2007
The many faces of Isaiah
As I was sitting, reading, during "naptime" today I glanced over at Isaiah and realized that as I was shoving his pacifier into this mouth, he was busy trying to smile at me. I was shocked! Smiles from my other babies were recorded, debated, talked about, and happily thought about for days to come. Poor Isaiah has too busy a Mommy to pay any attention to his smiles. That is practically child abuse when compared to the standards my other kids lived with. So I set down my book and smiled at my baby for a while. Then I did something else that I did often with my other babies and haven't done enough with Isaiah, I set up a little photo shoot and spent 10 minutes taking a ridiculous amount of pictures of my adorable baby. So, if you are one of those people who don't love looking at pictures of other people's babies, you might as well sign off now (besides, if you're one of those people, what are you doing on my blog anyway?) Here are just a few of the photos of Isaiah.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
The 4th of July
Naomi loved the animals and the marching bands. Asher loved the cars and hated the drums. Isaiah, in true 2 month old form, slept through it all.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Ahhh, Motherhood...
This may become a regular part of my blog. Because, lets face it, sometimes you just have to sit back, laugh, and say "Ahhhhh, motherhood..." and shake your head. Or else you cry. So, here's what happened today.
Our family was at the mall play place. Naomi was running around like crazy, Isaiah was sleeping soundly in the stroller. And Asher was having a rough day because of three new teeth coming in, so he was sitting on my lap. Now, I wasn't exactly dressed up or anything, but I was kind of well coordinated. What I mean is, my canvas ballet flat shoes matched my T-shirt and so did my jewelry. So, there we are, kids playing, Asher sitting on my lap. Suddenly my leg is wet. Asher has thrown up. Every single drop of it has gone onto my leg (I was wearing shorts) or precisely into my left shoe. Not a drip landed anywhere but in my shoe. I had been sitting kind of balanced on the balls of my feet so my toes were in my shoes, and my shoes were flat on the ground. That's how it all happened. And I all I can say is, "Ahhhh, motherhood..."
As a perk, I walked down the mall barefoot to the nearest Journey's and bought myself a cute new pair of flip-flops.
Our family was at the mall play place. Naomi was running around like crazy, Isaiah was sleeping soundly in the stroller. And Asher was having a rough day because of three new teeth coming in, so he was sitting on my lap. Now, I wasn't exactly dressed up or anything, but I was kind of well coordinated. What I mean is, my canvas ballet flat shoes matched my T-shirt and so did my jewelry. So, there we are, kids playing, Asher sitting on my lap. Suddenly my leg is wet. Asher has thrown up. Every single drop of it has gone onto my leg (I was wearing shorts) or precisely into my left shoe. Not a drip landed anywhere but in my shoe. I had been sitting kind of balanced on the balls of my feet so my toes were in my shoes, and my shoes were flat on the ground. That's how it all happened. And I all I can say is, "Ahhhh, motherhood..."
As a perk, I walked down the mall barefoot to the nearest Journey's and bought myself a cute new pair of flip-flops.
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